Rig mats are commonly used in the oil and gas industry as ground cover to provide a platform or road surface to support heavy equipment on otherwise soft ground. There exist several different types of rig mats. One type is often referred to as steel frame mat. A steel frame mat conventionally includes a plurality of steel members that are welded together to form a rectangular frame having a central opening. The frame is configured and welded together in a manner to receive and retain a plurality deck inserts, which are often wooden members. The wooden members extend between sides of the frame and across the central opening, thereby forming the deck surfaces of the rig mat.
Conventional steel frame rig mat construction has many inherent disadvantages. For example, once the rig mat is constructed, the wooden members are essentially permanently held by the frame. This creates a problem because in use the wooden members can be significantly damaged rending the mat unusable. Currently, the only way to replace damaged wooden members is to torch cut the frame so that the damaged wooden members can be removed and replaced. Once the wooden members are replaced, the frame must be welded back together.
Repairing conventional steel frame rig mats is so undesirable that rather than going through the repair process of cutting and welding the frame back together, it is preferable to order a replacement mat, despite the often high costs of shipping the replacement mat to the site location. As such there exists and need for a rig mat construction, which substantially departs from the prior art, and in doing so provides a rig mat construction that allows replacing damaged deck inserts.